Archive for the ‘Verrill Wolf Wagon’ tag

The Verrill Wolf Wagon during reassembly. Photos courtesy Pennsylvania College of Technology.

It’s nearly 24 feet long, and tips the scales at more than 5,100 pounds. Its creator, Tom Verrill, was a University of Maine mechanical engineering graduate who reportedly worked in the aircraft industry before later embarking on a career as a boat builder but also had a passion for land-based vehicles. Depending upon who’s asked, the roadster’s design purpose was either to create the longest car in the world, outdoing the Bugatti Royale, or simply to attract members of the opposite sex with its outlandish display of excess. Called the Verrill Wolf Wagon, this one-of-one mystery roadster will grace the show field during this year’s The Elegance at Hershey, following a restoration by students at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.

Inspecting the prep work prior to the respray.

Under the car’s curvaceous fiberglass body, the Verrill Wolf Wagon was originally built with Chrysler mechanicals. Nowadays, power comes from a Cadillac V-8 linked to an automatic transmission, but the first engine installed was a 331-cu.in. Chrysler Hemi V-8 mated via Fluid Drive to a three-speed manual transmission. The Hemi’s lumpy idle and third pedal proved a bit weary for parade use, so the powertrain swap was requested by the Swigart family, the car’s current owners. Fortunately, the family retained the car’s original powertrain, and there’s talk about reverting to the Wolf Wagon’s original drivetrain during upcoming mechanical work scheduled for late 2014.

Preparing the doors for paint.

Pat Swigart’s late husband, funeral director Harry G. Trefz, purchased the car around 1980 from the now-defunct Asbury Park museum, and prior to that it was part of the Chrysler-centric Paul Stern collection. Trefz died in in the late 1980s, and Stern also died during the decade, meaning that much of the information accumulated on the car’s history no longer exists. Given the attention to detail (such as the Verrill Wolf Wagon hubcaps and oversize horn button), it’s apparent that the car was never meant to be an only child. Pat Swigart believes that Tom Verrill even pitched the design to Chrysler executives, who rejected it after realizing that its 24-foot length would not fit in a standard garage.

Shooting a coat of the car’s pale yellow paint.

As with the rest of the car, even some of the cabin’s appointments are over the top: The massive steering column appears to be a cut-down post from a barber’s chair, the door handles (present on the interior only) are borrowed from a refrigerator, and only one of the dual levers to the right of the steering wheel is currently functional (as the gear shift lever). Of the dash-mounted levers, owner Pat Swigart explained, “My late husband used to tell passengers that one lever was to create an oil slick, while the second was for the passenger ejection seat.”

The Wolf Wagon, as delivered to the Pennsylvania College of Technology last August.

Last August, the car was hauled to the Pennsylvania College of Technology, where students in the automotive restoration technology program have been preparing it for the 2014 The Elegance at Hershey. Per instructor Roy Klinger, the preparation work revealed that black was the car’s original color, though it was repainted a period-correct Chrysler yellow sometime after Stern’s ownership (and will be repainted in this hue in preparation for The Elegance). Klinger praised the car’s stout body, which uses a wooden frame and fiberglass that’s up to three-quarters of an inch thick in spots. Clearly, its construction was no amateur effort.

Klinger admits that the school’s restoration of the car is being done in a backwards manner. The bodywork, paint and detailing has just been completed, in preparation for this year’s Elegance, while the mechanical restoration is planned for late 2014 into 2015. If all goes as planned, the Wolf Wagon’s original Chrysler Hemi and three-speed transmission will be reinstalled, bringing the car one step closer to its original state. The driveability factor is is less of a concern these days, considering the car is no longer called upon for parade duty.

Though the car’s history is murky, it does cut an imposing figure. Its minimal, two-seater cockpit and diminutive doors further exaggerate the car’s overall size, an effect that Verrill was surely striving for in his design. Though the Wolf Wagon may be an orphan, there’s no chance it will go unnoticed on the show field at Hershey.

Special thanks to Pat Swigart, Tom Wilson and Alan Farneth for their help in researching this unique vehicle.